The message reads, in part:
“Your conference has won well-deserved respect throughout the world. There are delegates from nearly 100 countries who have come to Moscow to take part in it, including heads of military agencies, chiefs of general staffs, prominent researchers and experts, as well as high-ranking representatives from the UN and other international organisations.
This year you will focus on a topic of vital significance for the international community: the development outlook in the Middle East following the routing of ISIS in Syria. It is clear that this terrorist group, despite its military defeat, still retains considerable destructive potential and the ability to quickly change its tactics and plan attacks in various countries and regions. Other extremist organisations are very dangerous as well. In this context, we must get together to consider forms of multilateral cooperation that would enable us to consolidate the successes we achieved in the fight against terrorism and to preclude the proliferation of this threat.
I am confident that your discussions will be substantive and fruitful, that you will be able to exchange valuable practical experience as well as analytical achievements and will make a major contribution to the international efforts towards international security and stability.”